Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/148

 130 SERTULUM CIIIXENSE SEXTUM :

thickness of its peridiiira, and the smoothness of its l^ark, but espccia lly by the stellate mode of the dehiscence of the peridiura.

Fries gives Southern Europe and Carolina as its localities ; to these may be added La Calle, in Algeria, as Montagne informs us in the ' Plore d'Algerie,' and Australia, Drummond, n. 168. A comparison of the spores of the British plant with those of specimens from Carolina exhibits scarcely any difference, both being rough and varying from O'OOOS to 0"0005 inch diameter.

Explanation of Plate CXVI. — Fig. 1, 2, 3. Scleroderma Geaster, Fr., from specimens collected by Dr. Bull, near Hereford, in Oct. 1870. Fig. 4. Spores mamified 700 diameters.

��SERTULUM CIIINENSE SEXTUM: A SIXTH DECADE OF NEW CHINESE PLANTS.

By H. F. Hance, Ph.D., etc.

1. Lathy rus (Orobus) Davidii, n. sp. ; glaberrimus, caule angulato, foliis 8-jugis petiolo apice cirrhifero foliolis membranaceis subglaucescen- tibus reticulato-venosis subrhombeo-ellipticis utrinque obtusis setaceo- apiculatis, stipulis foliolis duplo brevioribtis ac angustioribus semisagit- tatis auriculis deorsum productis vix divaricatis obtusiusculis integerrimis vel subtindulatis, pedtinculis 12-15-floris folia vix ajquantibus, calycis dentibus superioribus brevibus triangulatis .3 iuferioribus longioribus lineari-setaceis, corolla (teste Davidio) albida, leguminibus immaturis glaberrimis anguste linearibus 3|-pollicaribus.

In silvis montosis ditionis Pekinensis, m. Julio florentem, legit rev. pat. Arraandus David. (Exsicc. n. 14880.)

This species, of which the absence of ripe fruit on my specimen pre- cludes my giving a fuller diagnosis, is allied to L. maritiiii/ts. Big., and L. pisi/ormls, L., and is doubtless the unnamed plant alluded to in Maximowicz's ' Index Floras Pekinensis.' In referring it to the section Orobus, I understand that group as limited by Alex. Braun and other recent writers.

2. Abriis mollis, n. sp. ; longe diffusa atque volubilis, caulibus ramisque pilosis, foliis 11-16-jugis petiolis fulvo-villosis foliolis tenuibus lineari- oblongis supremis plerumque obovatis truncato-obtusis setaceo-apiculatis 9-12 lin. longis 3-4 lin. latis venis inconspictiis supra pubenti-pilosis subtus dense villosis, racemis fulvido-villosis folium dimidium circiter fequantibus, floribus 3-linealibus roseo-purpureis secus rachin in nodis brevissimis 4-8 glomeratis, calyce dense incano, vexilli ungue limbo triplo breviore vagin?e staminese adhserente, leguminibus If poll, longis pilosis oblongis compressis apiculatis circ. 8-spermis, seminibus ovoideis compressis fusco-brunneis nitidis strophiola parva apice in corniculum protracta annuliformi hilum perforatum funiculum rigidum legumini adhserentem excipiens cingente.

In frutectis saxosis ad Shek-mtin, juxta Cantonem, d. 8 Augusti 1869, primus detexit filius mens Alfredus ; in silvula ad ccenobium Sheung- king-tdi, infra verticem montium Pak-wan, m. Septembri ejusdem anni iterum invenit clarus Sampson. (Exsicc. n. 15806.)

This species, which, like A. cantoniensis, has carunculate seeds, is in the

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